


criminal

by dutchydoescoke



Series: where we will, we'll roam [2]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates of the Caribbean Fusion, F/M, Fluff, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 11:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16196732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchydoescoke/pseuds/dutchydoescoke
Summary: It was a beautiful day, as befitting the Caribbean. The sun was shining bright enough that Emma appreciated what little shade was provided by the gallows.





	criminal

**Author's Note:**

> Have a not-prequel to "the song has been sung" that is 500% fluff about Emma being a massive drama queen and also Jack Sparrow only cooler.

It was a beautiful day, as befitting the Caribbean. The sun was shining bright enough that Emma appreciated what little shade was provided by the gallows.

Some guard had gotten lucky and recognised her while she’d been separated from Matthew and Teddy, looking for a blacksmith to commission new swords for an anniversary present. So she stood on the gallows, tapping one boot against the wood in impatience and irritating the crier at the same time, and waited. She wasn’t waiting for her husbands, though she had little doubt they were on their way. She so rarely got arrested anymore that she wanted to wait for the best moment to escape and leave the guard floundering at her daring.

Emma smiled at the thought.

The drums started, signalling that it was time, and the crier straightened. He unrolled the scroll in his hand and began to read, loud enough that she was sure her mother could hear him, all the way back in Port Royal, in her grave.

“Emma Cullen,” he began and Emma rolled her eyes. “Be it known that you have been charged...”

“ _Captain,_ ” she muttered. If they were going to hang her for her crimes, they could at least get her title right. “ _Captain_ Emma Cullen.”

“By the King of England,” the crier continued, as if she hadn’t spoken, “for your willful commission of crimes against the Crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith.”

There was a glint in the crowd that caught her eye and her smile widened at the sight of Teddy and Matthew leaning against the wall just inside the gates, waiting for her, right on time. Matthew had her hat in his hands and Teddy held a bundle that had her swords and blunderbuss sticking out of it. Teddy tilted his head to gesture to something behind her and she nodded back, careful not to draw attention to herself.

“Piracy, smuggling, illicitly marrying two men at once, kidnapping the Governor of Port Royal, theft of a priceless artifact.” Emma rolled her eyes again. It was the Governor’s _wig_ , and they made it sound like she’d stolen the crown jewels. “Impersonating an officer of the British Royal Navy, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a nun of the Church of England—”

Teddy and Matthew both started laughing at that, almost doubling over with it, though she couldn’t hear them over the drums and crier. Not that she blamed them. That had been an adventure that had almost gotten them all arrested, but fleecing the cleric out of the jewelled crucifix had been worth it. It had been such fun that they hadn’t sold the crucifix, which still hung in the captain’s cabin of _The Gilded Rose_.

“—impersonating a member of the French royal family. Escaping from federal custody. Sailing under false colours, arson, looting, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation and general lawlessness,” the crier called and Emma gave him a bewildered look. How many different words for _general piracy_ did they have? “And for these crimes, you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead.”

That was her cue.

“Terribly sorry,” Emma said, loud enough to be heard over the crowd, and drew one of the knives out of her vest. “I have things to do, you see, and dying isn’t one of them. So we’re going to get this over with.”

With that, she sliced through the ropes around her wrists and hopped off the gallows, ducking the sword swung at her by one of the soldiers. She kicked out, catching him in the chest, and wrenched the sword from his grip, using it to block another swing aimed at her. Beyond the people in front of her, Teddy and Matthew melted back into the crowd outside the gates and Emma whirled around, ducking her way through the crowd.

One of the soldiers almost caught her and she parried the attack, slamming the knife she still held into his shoulder to slow him down. Another took a swipe at her hip, an attempt she dodged with ease, twirling away to face down a third soldier. He was handled by twisting his sword out of his grip and pinning him to the gallows post with the sword through his jacket. She fought her way through the mess, the clash of swords ringing out like one of her favorite melodies on a guitar, and she weaved her way through the soldiers like she was dancing on the deck of her ship.

She made her way to the ramparts, the sea water crashing against the rocks far below, and turned back to the soldiers. She dropped the borrowed sword in front of her and stepped back until her ankles were pressed against the low stone wall. A British flag flew above her, snapping in the breeze and knocking the ropes against the flagpole at her elbow.

“Gentlemen! You should always remember today as the day that you _almost_ caught Captain Emma Cullen,” she called, grinning. She cut through the ropes on the flagpole and took hold of the flag’s corners, jumping off the rampart and using the flag to catch the wind like a sail. She could hear the chaos behind her as at least one Marine fell from the wall to the water below.

When she landed, Matthew and Teddy waited nearby in the longboat with her effects. She swam over, face still stretched in a grin, even as she kicked against her waterlogged skirts.

“Happy anniversary, Em,” Teddy said when she reached them, offering a hand to help her up. She took it and clambered into the boat, dropping the sopping flag on the bench next to her. “You like your present?”

“That was _you_.” Emma blinked, momentarily surprised, but her grin didn’t fade. Of course they’d have realized she enjoyed playing the Royal Navy for fools and showing off. And somehow they’d recognized that she’d missed it.

Her grin widened and she leaned in to kiss each of them, happy as she could be, considering her still-soaked clothing and the water pooling in her boots.

“It was perfect.”


End file.
